, 1887-07-23
rCALIFOPr WOODS.
TIE REDWOOD SUPERIOR TO WAL
NUT, CHERRY OR MAHOGANY.

HoS sAiuhDho AlmDer have Almost
Disappeared-Ths House Painters Imi-
tation-First Use of as a Fin
ishing Lumber-The Sugar Pine.
The ordinary course of human events would
be the discovery of the beauty of our native
woods about the time they disappear. For
the past thirty years house builders have in
discriminatory worked the wavy, bird's-eye
or straight grained redwood into sills, sleep
ers, studding, sheeting or shingling, appar-
entity inappreciative of the fact that they
were using a timber with far more natural
beauty than the costly black walnut, cherry
OF mahogany that were imported at so great
an expense.
For fifty years black walnut was split into
rails III the Mississippi valley, although now
1T is worth $500 per 1000 feet for ornamental
work. The white ash of the eastern states
was nearly gone before the marvellous beauty
OF its granting was discovered by the furni-
ture makers Now every part of the country
Is ransacked to find crooked and knotty trees
to be worked into fancy lumber. Maple, ex-
cept That it was the source for the farmers
"sweetening," would have disappeared a
century ago as firewood. Within the mem
DRY of men now living great piles of it were
burned for the ashes, which were sold at ten
cents a bushel to be worked into black salts
Hb tht pObdNlleIJs lOTIDeIly q necessary Rd-
junet TO every country store.
As these valuable timbers disappeared-
house painters tried to immitate the inimita-
BILE beauties OF the lost woods. Such imita-
tons they werel The clumsy daub looked
something like a whale in a high sea, a vessel
stranded on rocks, or the final catastrophe
predicted by the seer of the isle of Patmos.
of course, there were artists whose work
was not so offensive to good taste, but why
not have use the original woods for what
they were worth, taking measures to pre-
serves the beautiful grainingsl
In frontier life, away from saw and plan
ing mills, the lumber that readily splits into
shingles, shakes, siding, fence rails and pick
cts is the first to be appropriated. Such were
the sugar pines of the Sierras and the woods
of the coast range. The former are nearly
gone, and the latter are disappearing at q
rate that will soon make them things of the
past. Millions of feet of redwood are worked
into mental positions in buildings. Every
board is n study for an artist.
CRAVINGS OF BOARDS.
TIL cheap lumber made of the smaller and
crooked trees is especially interesting. The
writer, for years, has been in the habit of
visiting buildings in process of erection to
study the different %gruinings of the boards
used. Most of the cheap lumber had a mix
NhAN " NuAAJt %AAABiSA. bAdlltl NOOu, WIFE
portions of white sap wood, the latter form
ing II cheerful contrast with the russell of the
center of the boards. Sometimes the knots
were sawed through, that gave an idea of
possible landscapes. The writer has seen a mar
Vicious representation of plain and mountain
produced by the j%uncture of light and dark
wood. Rough lumber from the saw showed
an innumerable variety of styles; how much
more interesting it would be dressed, and the
granting brought QUIT Every line of it is
beyond imitation by any artist, vet it was all
buried under paint, paper or plaster.
Some twenty-five years ago a builder in one
of the northern coast towns erected a public
hall, using the native redwood as a finishing
lumber. The lower wainscotting, three feet
from the floor, reaching to the windows, was
in alternate white and dark redwood. Be
tween the windows, which were eight feet
high and eight feet apart, were panels of red
wood of selected logs sawed s~lashwise; that
is, the logs were set on the blocks so that the
saw ran across the grain, producing what
house painters call "herring bone work. The
lumber was dressed with the grain to work
smoothly, and the knives of the planners left
no "eaty places"
In selecting the lumber for the panel work
the continuity of the granting was separated
no two boards from the adjoining parts Of
a log being placed in company. The work
was further varied by reversing every alter
nate board and half of the herring bone
pointing upward and the other half down,
the lines nearly fading out in the white wood.
Each panel of eight feet square was framed
in with the zizzag redwood, sawed from the
butts of the trees for this purpose. The space
above the windows, four feet wide, was fin
ished in white redwood, the ceiling or over
head being lined with cloth and covered with
n light wall paper.
The effect was marvellous. No one enter
ing the hall the first time could believe that
the panels were anything but the work of u
skillful painter. The wavy lines resembled
mountains, valleys, lakes and sea. The occa-
siOnal knots, seen at the distance of q few
feet, assumed all sorts of mysterious appear
ances. The rustic population who came to
dance would often gaze in wonder at the
curious effects produced by the woodwork.
AND PINE.
Recently a few builders nave been daring
enough to introduce the native woods as a
finishing lumber. The Wilcox house, at Los
Gatos, is finished in redwood and pine. care
being taken TO preserve all the fine CRAVINGS.